mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from georgia for yielding me this time .  mr. speaker , about 9 or 10 months ago , a constituent of mine approached me back home and he said , howard , we have got to get rid of this patriot act .  i said , give me one example of how the patriot act has adversely affected you .  he said , well , i can not do that .  i said , give me an example of how the patriot act has adversely affected anyone known to you .  he said , well , i can not do it .  i said , you are not helping me .  i am afraid , mr. speaker , that this is how the patriot act has been portrayed : accusations of compromising our freedoms , but virtually no hard facts or evidence to support these accusations .  and at the conclusion of our conversation , my constituent said to me , well , i guess maybe i have heard wrong information .  i said , well , if you can not come forward with anything other than just rank hearsay that is unsupported , i am going to have to embrace your conclusion .  the subcommittee on crime , terrorism and homeland security hosted nine public hearings .  the full house committee on the judiciary , furthermore , hosted three public hearings .  now , this is one dozen public hearings , mr. speaker , where the patriot act was the beneficiary or the target of an exhaustive , deliberate examination , in detail .  are we thoroughly and completely safe today ?  no .  are we safer today than we were prior to 9/11 ?  unquestionably .  one of those reasons , mr. speaker , in my opinion , is the presence of the patriot act .  the patriot act has indeed broadened the parameters through which and under which law enforcement and public safety officers are allowed to work .  compromising freedoms ?  no evidence of it .  the hearings indicated no abuse on the part of the federal government , the u.s. government , to protect us .  i have the fear that one of these days these evil people driven by fanaticism will attack us again , but they have not since 9/11 ; and i think for that we should all be very thankful , and i think for that we should attribute some of that to the presence of the patriot act .  i urge the passage of this rule , mr. speaker .  